Gig Review: Opeth @ The Powerstation, Auckland 02/02/2017

03 Feb 2017 // A review by Alex Moulton

Credit
where credit is due, the night was well executed. I arrived on site half an
hour before doors opened, and the lines of fans waiting to get in stretched as
far as the eye could see (and presumably around the corner too). Come 8pm,
venue security personnel were instructing everyone to form two lines, and to
have their tickets and ID out ready. The prompt and professional service meant
minimal time was needed to get tickets checked and patrons into the venue. It
was posted on event pages online that the opening band would take to the stage
at 8:30pm, with Opeth at 9:30pm, and recognition should go out to the roadie
crew and bands, they stayed on schedule.

A sold out
Powerstation venue is an amazing sight to see; long lines to purchase band merchandise,
and two packed floors of patrons fizzing with excitement. Opeth has been around
for 27 years now, and it showed in the widely varied demographic; mixed male to
female ratios, ages ranging from teens to senior citizens, and in many cases
the actual multi-generational fans (fathers out with their daughters, and
mothers with their sons, all of whom were fans). The eclectic mix of people had
a great vibe, and it mirrored the acts of the night.

Without any
fanfare, or even an introduction, Caligula’s Horse jumped straight into their
set. Jim Grey’s a diverse vocal style could be compared to both Kim Benzie of Dead
Letter Circus and Maynard James Keenan from A Perfect Circle, with his use of
clean and abrasive vocals respectively. Providing a variety of singing styles
from soft choir, to an abrasive vocal distortion, the similar use of mixing and
combining musical styles makes them a great choice for an opening band for
Opeth. Judging by the crowd’s reaction
to the performance (or lack thereof), it is easy to see the downside of having
an Australian act opening for all shows on a Australia/New Zealand Tasman Tour;
a complete lack of the bands back catalogue of songs had the audience
effectively stunned motionless. The crowds were polite, and applauded and
cheered at every opportunity, but it was obvious that the crowd were standing listening
to what was new material for them, rather than moshing to songs they were
familiar with. Caligula’s Horse did have some initial nerves, and this was
easily observed through their inter-song banter with the crowd, but as they
played through their set, they finally started to get some movement from the
crowd, and responded by improving their own drive and performance on stage. The
Brisbane-based alt progressive rockers were definitely as described, and put
together a stellar performance. The technicality was there with a rich full sound,
which encapsulated a number of sub-genres in every song; whether shredding,
djent, synchronized play-through, or harmonizing, they executed it all to
perfection.

Opeth themselves had no issues with a lack of fanfare, with every member walking on
stage individually and their own personalised ovations from the sold out venue.
Beginning the set with the title track from the 2016 Sorceress album, the audience erupted in a flurry of fists and
devil horns as they began to push and shove towards the front. Opeth completed
a ten song set, spanning across two hours, including two tracks from the latest
release Sorceress. The remaining song
on the set consisted of a track from every album released all the way back to
the 1998 release My Arms, Your Hearse. Morningrise and Orchid were the only alums left unrepresented. The crowd remained
energetic throughout the night, cheering at every opportunity, and heartily
singing along with such tracks as “In my
Time of Need” to the point that I could not hear vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt over them. The band were as
humble as they come, regaling his fans with their holiday antics, raining down apologies for the long 11 year gap between NZ
shows, and warning to not be concerned by potentially erratic vocals or
instruments due to the 36 hour flight and 12 hour time zone difference. The
warnings were unnecessary however, as they had no issue at all with their
sound, and showed no signs of fatigue. They transitioned from soft acoustics to heavy djents, finely tuned dissonance to shredding solos, clean melodic lyrics to unintelligible black metal growls,
blending rock with folk, jazz, and blues, all in the same track.

To those
that are unfamiliar with the band, the audial cacophony would be difficult to
interpret. Where a song ends, is often indistinguishable, and the tracks vary
wildly from around 5 minutes up to 15 minutes in length. Rather than the album
being a journey, with Opeth every single track is an adventure, evolving across
time, through musical genres, tempos and time signatures. But never does it
come off as offensive, or unpalatable. Through the combination of heavy and soft riffs, the tranquillity
and harmony of the songs shine through, creating an energy that the fills the
crowd.

Mikael ended
their evening with a final apology and a enticing dedication to grace our shores again before another 11 years comes to pass, and of course an encore song, the 15 minute long behemoth of a title track from the Deliverance album. What a way to go!

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